Wednesday, August 11, 2010

DoCoMo likely to invest US$1b in Tata Tele-media

TOKYO: NTT DoCoMo Inc, Japan's biggest mobile phone operator, will likely invest an additional US$1 billion (RM3.16 billion) in India's Tata Teleservices, the Economic Times reported on Wednesday, Aug 11.

DoCoMo's stake in Tata Teleservices, India's fifth-biggest mobile phone operator, is seen rising to 35%-40% from 26%, the Indian business newspaper said, citing two people familiar with the deal, who added it will likely close in a few months.

A DoCoMo spokesman had no immediate comment.

DoCoMo first bought Tata shares in 2009, entering India's fast-growing but cut-throat mobile market as a saturated domestic market forced it to speed up expansion overseas.

DoCoMo controls about a half of the Japanese market and competes with KDDI Corp and Softbank Corp.

Tata Teleservices had 72.5 million mobile subscribers as of end-June, according to data from India's telecom regulator, and a company executive said this month that it had added another 2.5 million users in July.

Subscriber growth has been fuelled by its per-second billing system it launched in mid-2009, which also led rivals to start similar bill plans.

DoCoMo shares were down 0.1% at ''142,200 (RM5,271.33), outperforming a 2.3% drop in the benchmark Nikkei average. ' Reuters


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